The 2025 season marked the first year in NASCAR history that a fastest lap had points on the line.
New for the season was the Xfinity Fastest Lap initiative, which awarded one bonus point to the driver that ran the fastest single lap in a top three series race. That bonus increased the maximum points a driver could earn in one race to 61 (71 for the Coca-Cola 600).
With the 2025 season in the books, there were a total of 94 races — 36 in the Cup Series, 33 in the Xfinity Series and 25 in the Craftsman Truck Series — run across NASCAR’s top three series this season.
Of the 94 race winners, 21 of them went on to earn the fastest lap bonus: five in Cup, nine in Xfinity and seven in Trucks.
Of the 21 race winners that set the fastest lap, nine of them scored the maximum 61 points (race win, two stage wins and the fastest lap):
- Kyle Larson in the May Cup race at Kansas Speedway
- William Byron in the October Cup race at Martinsville Speedway
- Larson in the April Xfinity race at Bristol Motor Speedway
- Justin Allgaier in the Xfinity race at Nashville Superspeedway
- Connor Zilisch in the Xfinity race at Portland International Raceway
- Corey Heim in the Truck races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Lime Rock Park, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.
Denny Hamlin led the Cup Series by scoring nine of the 36 fastest laps this season, while Connor Zilisch led Xfinity with seven fastest laps in 33 races. Series champion Corey Heim led the way in Trucks with eight fastest laps in 25 races.
What did all three have in common? They each led their respective series in race wins with six, 10 and 12, respectively.
Each fastest lap champion received a donation to a charity of their choice at the conclusion of the year. Hamlin earned a $60,000 donation to the Denny Hamlin Foundation; Zilisch earned a $40,000 donation to the Austin Hatcher Foundation and Heim earned a $20,000 donation to the Safelite Foundation.
Below is the completed chart of the drivers that earned the bonus point (as well as the speed they ran) in every Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series race run this year. Races where the driver went on to win are in bold, while races where the driver went on to score the maximum 61 points are in bold red.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
Sonoma times:
Haley? 75.99 sec.
Bell 76.01
Briscoe 76.14
SVG 76’16
Katherine Legge 77.61
Cody B Ware 77.68
McDowell’s fastest lap at Talladega was on lap 120, the start of TV timeout 2 and he wasn’t in the top ten finish! Why wasn’t the fastest lap lap 200?
Why was Rockingham a 1.017 mile track and now it is now 0.94 miles?
SAFER barriers?
If you Google “Rockingham Safer barriers” you find out there is no real answer.
The search I did says the repave slightly changed the shape, leading to the length change.
So the fastest lap at Daytona was 199.252 mph! Then why were the leaders running 176 IN THE DRAFT creating the traffic jam for the other cars? Only the brain trust in Daytona and some fans call that “entertainment” along with the WWE.
That’s a difference of 23mph, pathetic. Your the only one pointing out that the trucks are running faster than the cup cars. Every racing writer or broadcaster should be knocking these iroc cars. Is honestly pathetic.